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You Don’t Have To Travel The World To Find Yourself
But, you do have to travel within.
“Actualization of self cannot be sought as a goal in its own right… Rather, it seems to be a by-product of active commitment of one’s talents to some cause, outside the self, such as the quest for beauty, truth, or justice.”
Sidney M. Jourard, via MoveMe Quotes
When people go on “quests” to find themselves, it’s not because their “self” is somewhere hidden in the world for them to find. It’s so that they can expose themselves to a plethora of experiences that might help them realize who they were all along.
In other words, what you need for self-actualization is already within you.
This is an important realization because it means two things:
- Worldly travel isn’t required for self-actualization—you’ve already arrived.
- Introspective travel is really what’s required for understanding yourself (and is available to you at any moment).
Wherever you go, there you are
The difference between worldly and introspective travel is that worldly travel forces you to confront yourself—introspective travel is a voluntary, iterative process.
When you travel hundreds of miles from home and immerse yourself in a new culture, there’s no “snapping yourself out of it” when you get uncomfortable, exposed, or surprised. When you introspectively explore, you can opt out at any moment.
And the reason “opting out” can (and maybe already has) limit(ed) a person’s self-actualization is because both good and bad experiences are required to give a person a complete sense of their identity. The more a person chooses to “opt out,” the more they’re going to miss about who they are.
The importance of “bad” experiences
While good experiences are enjoyable, they only really hit us on the periphery of our being—the same way the good experiences that we have every single day hit us. How deeply do we notice and feel good about teeth that don’t hurt? Or bones that aren’t broken? Or a stomach that isn’t upset?
